Friday, March 23, 2018

Cotter Railroad Tunnel Progress 112 Years Ago

Tunnels nearly Completed.

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Work on the While River Line Being Pushed.

Republic Special

Yellville. Ark., Jan.18. Teams are now driven through the tunnel near White River, at Cotter, and the work of dressing it for the track layers is progressing at a rapid rate. This should not take over twenty days when the line will be ready for the steel to and beyond Yellville.

The bridge gang arrived last Wednesday and the work of preparing to set up the great steel structure has commenced. The thirteen piers have all been completed. The sections of the bridge are all on the ground, and the track is constructed to the first pier. It is confidently predicted that unless high water prevents the construction, trains will cross the bridge and pass through the tunnel by the first of April. After that, the work will speed up and no stop will be made until the Omaha crossing is reached.

The 600 foot tunnel near Crooked Creek about fifteen miles north of the first White River crossing, lacks but almost forty feet of being completed. The workmen already constructing the trestles north of the river, and will have them all ready for the tracklayers as soon as reached. There will be one sixty-foot trestle about one-fourth of a mile long. The other will be short, though high.[1]